PMO - Project Management Office

The main reason a growing number of companies are turning to PMOs (project management offices) is the standardization of project management processes. Consistency promotes reliability, and once a company discovers a methodology that works, there is no reason to veer from it other than to improve. It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel with every new project.

Studies show that the longer a company uses a PMO, the better its results will be. This is because PMOs are designed to connect an entire organization's thinking and intelligence. Success has a limited value if nothing is learned from it. Conversely, does a failure have any value if the same type of mistake may be made over and over again? Project results are captured and documented in an effective PMO. If a particular setback caused a week-long delay on one project, that same issue will not be a major hurdle in the future if a solution is documented in a PMO.

Another reason PMOs improve project performance is the disciplinary function they serve. In essence, a PMO forces all project managers and employees to follow a proven set of procedures. Once a methodology has been established, there is no way to avoid it. Project planning, assigning tasks, monitoring progress, and documentation are all performed on the PMO interface, which functions the same way every time. Without a PMO, project managers can choose to deviate from procedures at any time. Their bosses will never know until mistakes occur.

The Unanet PMO

Here at Unanet, we offer a web-based PMO that can increase your project success rates, standardize your business practices, and help you achieve continual operational improvement. The PMO we offer forces project managers to follow a proven method of initializing, monitoring, and analyzing projects. Our software is superior to our competitors', because it can be integrated into your external systems. It also unifies several processes, such as resource management, expense forecasting, accounting, project management, and post-project analysis.